Has 60 Minutes Missed the Point About Hacker Intrusions?

As a veteran  IT specialist, who scrutinized reported allegations as to whom the perpetrators of the Sony cyber assault were, I must conclude all conjectures are at best cloudy.

What is crystal clear however is the gross negligence of some American companies and our government in protecting our privileged, most sensitive personal information.

The other day I received a letter from Anthem, the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross/Shield’s association informing me my personal information was now in the hands of hackers, who penetrated the security they now have unapologetically taken measures to prevent.
One must wonder why Anthem made no attempt to comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), laws enacted over twenty years ago to prevent such nefarious, devastating disclosures? Why wasn’t our data encrypted? It is a very simple and inexpensive process. And why hasn't the government agency (Health and Human Services), supposedly overseeing HIPAA who contends it performs audits with regularity, taken the time to uncover Anthem’s blatant violation of patient’s rights and imposed appropriate fines?

Ask not who the culprits that stole your most private and precious information are, but what so many arrogant, criminally negligent American companies along with our government's complicity and heedless disregard of our privacy rights should have taken measures to prevent it,

I was contacted by a representative from 60 Minutes informing me they were considering including portions of my letter for their "Mailbag" section. Sadly they were intent on only using my audacious claims stated in the first two sentences without publishing supporting logic submitted the following reply: "What I admired most when 60 Minutes first aired was the role your forebears assumed as spokesman for the voiceless people against the greed and injustice our government was unwilling or unable to uncover. You filled the most important role as guardian of the people; with astonishing results. My motivation for writing this letter was in the same spirit of exposing social injustice, with the aspiration that like positive change could be affected; the avaricious perpetrators and political complicity brought to bear in the court of public opinion. By excerpting only the first two sentences without supplying context dilutes my (and once your) altruistic message for the greater good.  Although I am willing to accept the diminution of my intent, I can only hope 60 Minutes will consider revisiting the Anthem debacle and exposing this troubling, unacceptable affront to countless members of our society - as only your correspondents can so deftly do.

Thank you for your kind consideration with this matter."

Their response was:

"Thank you for your note.  Given your feelings about the diluting the context of your note, we will not use it on our letters segment this week. Once again, thanks for writing.  We appreciate – and read – our mail."

Your comments are most welcome.